A large South American freshwater fish (genus Plagioscion) with a loud croaking or drumming sound used in communication.
From Portuguese or Tupi origin, entering English through colonial naturalists' accounts of South American fauna. Related to indigenous knowledge of Amazonian fish.
Acoupas are fish that literally make loud croaking noises underwater to communicate—indigenous peoples could hear them from canoes and used the sounds to locate and catch them, making it one of nature's most literally named creatures.
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